Hard surface cleaners for kitchen and bath surfaces are generally water based, acid or alkaline products that might contain surface active agents, solvents, detergent builders, dyes and fragrances, to name a few examples of prior art components of such a composition. Some alkaline cleaners might also contain some form of chlorine or other agents that provide short term antimicrobial efficacy. These cleaners can be applied to a surface of intended use by manual means, for example, by use of a trigger spray or aerosol spray, and thereafter rubbed or scrubbed, and rinsed, to remove any soil present. The soil might consist of lime scale and other mineral deposits, soap scum, food residue, body oils and cosmetic residues. Such a surface substrate can be manufactured of tile, glass, grout, fiberglass or other polymeric materials that are conventionally used in kitchen and bathroom construction.
The prior art cleaners aforementioned have a serious drawback as they contain antimicrobial agents that provide short term antimicrobial activity. There are certain types of antimicrobial agents that provide extended antimicrobial activity but their use is incompatible with the usual components of hard surface cleaners. An unstable solution is formed that results in a precipitate. The precipitate extracts the antimicrobial agent from the solution eliminating its effectiveness as an antimicrobial and, to a lesser degree, as a cleaning agent as other components are removed as part of the precipitate. To the contrary, the combination of the chelating agents and the antimicrobial agents used in the present invention produces a clear, stable product exhibiting the cleaning and antimicrobial characteristics of these individual components.